How to Shop for Coffee at the Grocery

You're walking through your neighborhood grocery store, and you come to the coffee aisle. Oh my goodness there are packages and packages of coffee. You see Starbucks, Folgers, Eight O'Clock, and more independent varieties. Almost all the coffees are ground. Some are whole bean. How do you choose?

First of all go for the whole bean coffee. Now this works better if you have a grinder at home, so make sure you have one. Whole bean though makes for a better cup of coffee. The theme you will read here is fresh. You want the coffee to be as fresh as possible.

Check the bag to see if there is a roasting date or a sell by date. The farther you are away from the sell by date the better. The closer to the roasting date, the better. Coffee's freshness has a limited life. Grinding it speeds up that life. You only want to grind the coffee when you are about to brew it.

Today is January 2, 2015(see how I got the year right). So if the sell by date on the bag of coffee has a date on it within the next month or so - pass. That is old coffee. It won't taste as good. In fact, in some cases it may taste stale.

Now, some grocery stores still have grinders there for you to grind the whole bean. Again, I say invest in a grinder for the home. Unless you are about to brew a bag of the coffee, there is really no reason for you to grind it at the store.

There are a lot of coffees in the store....which one to get? Well there I can't really help you. I can tell you what I stay away from(Folgers and Maxwell House). I have gotten Eight O'Clock coffee, which in a pinch is ok. If you can find a Starbucks whole bean, I suggest that, again check the dates on the bag. My feeling is Starbucks will be the fresher coffee on the shelf.

If I get coffee at the grocery, I like to go to a place like Whole Foods, which will have their Allegro Coffee, which is good, as well as local roasters. I promise you the coffee in those stores will be much fresher and tastier than at the local grocery.

Still don't believe me? Try this out, get a bag of an Allegro whole bean coffee,  grind it and brew it, along with a cup of Folgers. Now you tell me which tastes better.

Charlie